Apple is losing one of the chief designers of the new Apple TV just months after the product launched to the public.
Designer Ben Keighran revealed that he is leaving the company after joining Apple four years ago when his company Chomp was purchased by Apple to inject fresh talent into Apple’s streaming box.
“I want to create not just a killer product, but my own iconic company,” Keighran told Recode in an interview, stating that he plans to leave soon to start something new.
Keighran’s departure comes after he spent the last three years overseeing the look and feel of Apple TV’s software. Other top Chomp employees have already left the company, such as co-founder Cathy Edwards who left two years ago.
Acquired talent leaving Apple right after a big project launch has become a bit of a trend lately at Apple. Senior Director Ian Rogers, who joined Apple when the company acquired Beats, left last year after Apple Music launched.
Keighran likely worked on a number of other unreleased Apple projects, but wouldn’t say what they were, other than telling Recode “we looked at many different ways of delivering an awesome TV experience.”
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
5 responses to “Apple TV’s software designer bails on Cupertino”
He probably would have had non compete and/or 4 year contract with Apple as a condition of the purchase of the Company. Now he’s served his time he’s off….
Once you have run your own company, it’s incredibly hard to then work for someone else, and I can imagine if you’re used to calling the shots Apple is probably one of the worse companies to work for.
Good riddance! New Apple TV interface leaves a lot to be desired.
I agree. This was the first time in Apple history where I paid significantly more to get a much worse experience, from the interface (pretty but not as usable) to the remote (really bad design decisions in practice) to the device (no optical input).
I don’t know about you guys but I never thought of the Apple TVs interface as ‘great design’. In fact it’s pretty unwieldy.
The vertical Home Sharing UI has been neglected for almost 10 years.